The present invention relates to an apparatus for coating a web of paper passing over a backing roll. The apparatus includes a belt which is guided around a support. The belt is driven to move coating composition from a supply thereof to a nip where the belt meets the web at the backing roll. The support supports the belt at the nip against the web to apply the coating composition there to the web. Such an apparatus is known from German Unexamined Application for Patent 4100771. By means of a support roller of relatively small diameter, coating is applied to the web by a belt which wraps around said roller in a nip which is formed along a backing roll which guides the web. In this connection, it is favorable, for the support roller to have a relatively small diameter in order, in this way, to guide the belt with a relatively small radius of curvature at and through the application nip. Of course, certain support structures are required for the support roller in order to be able to adjust the coating nip relatively precisely. The nip should have a width, for instance, of between 0.1 and 1.5 mm.